Snowpack Extremely Healthy Across Most of the West | California 2nd Best Snowpack in 20 Years Except for one or two areas, the entire westwide snowpack is above average for this time of year and in many cases double normal. Considerable storms in California and Utah have significantly boosted the snowpack, with the Tahoe basin sitting at 229% normal and the Wasatch at 171% normal. According to the East Bay Times, California is closing in on […] SnowBrains | January 4, 2023 0 Comments
Snowpack Across the West is Double the Normal for This Time of Year It’s still very early in the season, but this graphic of the current snowpack across the western states makes for good reading. Except for Wyoming and Colorado, almost every area shows a snowpack at least double the normal for this time of year. Related: The Dangers of Early Season Backcountry Skiing Some big storms have massively boosted snowpacks and allowed […] SnowBrains | November 17, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: All Eyes on the Snow as Water Supplies Dwindle As the American West suffers a 22-year-long “megadrought” that researchers say is the worst in at least 1,200 years, water managers now have a new level of insight into just how much water will be available for their communities. Water departments in the West are using maps and models originally created by a NASA team to help track water and […] SnowBrains | September 26, 2022 0 Comments
Reexamination of Colorado’s Snowpack Leads to a Surprising Discovery about Microplastics and Possible Clues to Receding Snowpacks Reynold’s Rediscovery Richard Reynolds, a retired U.S. Geological Survey researcher recently made an important discovery in Colorado’s Upper River Basin snowpack. It is concerning a subject Reynolds has been looking at for quite some time, co-authoring one article on the topic in 2015 titled, “Regional Variability in Dust-On-Snow Processes and Impacts in Upper Colorado River Basin” followed by another in […] Industry News Ryan Kime | August 11, 2022 0 Comments
[PHOTOS] 2021 v 2022 – Huge Difference in Snowpack at Timberline Lodge, OR Last week Timberline Lodge, OR, announced that it is extending its season into late August due to ‘amazing snow’. And from these pictures, we can see why. Related: Timberline Lodge, OR, Extends Season Through Late August Thanks to Amazing Snow The images shared on the ‘Ski the Northwest‘ Facebook group show the snowpack at the same time of year in both […] Industry News SnowBrains | July 13, 2022 0 Comments
The West is Much Wetter and Greener This Year Compared to Last Many know that the spring skiing season in the Pacific Northwest ended very well this year. Additionally, the start of summer has seen comparatively cooler temperatures with continued rainfall. These two factors combined have made it much wetter and greener compared to last year. Contrast these two satellite images. The first picture is from 2021 and the second is from […] Weather Brent Thomas | July 5, 2022 0 Comments
Wettest April on Record Hardly Touches California’s Extreme Drought Situation A colder and wetter than normal April and early May has improved snowpack in California since the end of March. Related: 8-Trillion Gallons of Precipitation Just Fell on California | Surely That’s Enough to End the Drought, Right? However, the snow nowhere near makes up for the record-breaking dry spell between January and March. The state is still in a drought, […] WeatherBrains | May 13, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: Taking Stock of the Rocky Mountain Snowpack As another winter ends with the U.S. West still in the grip of the worst megadrought in 1,200 years, scientists and water managers are looking at the state of the snowpack. Mountain snowpack is a natural reservoir: As it melts out over the course of the spring and summer, it provides a steady supply of water for millions of people […] SnowBrains | May 9, 2022 0 Comments
From Bare to Buried | Satellite Images Show Stark Difference Between Snowpack on This Day Over the Years NWS Marquette, Michigan, shared these four images on Facebook yesterday of how the Upper Peninsula snowpack has varied on this day over the years. The stark differences are amazing, from totally bare to totally buried! Related: [PHOTOS] Images Show Stark Difference in Mount Shasta, CA, Snowpack Just 1-Year Apart With mostly clear skies today, the NASA MODIS satellite got a […] SnowBrains | April 28, 2022 0 Comments
Snowfall Totally Transforms Sierra Nevada Snowpack in Just 3-Weeks What a difference three weeks has made. After the driest three months on record, the California April 1st snowpack survey had the statewide snowpack at 38% of average. Recent snow storms have dumped multiple feet on the northern Sierra, visibly transforming the snowpack as these satellite images show. The snow has allowed ski resorts to stay open longer, and some to […] SnowBrains | April 25, 2022 1 Comment
These Are the 9 Deepest Snowpacks in North America This Week The season is winding down and a number of resorts that were on this list have now closed. The resorts below, however, are still open and still crushing. This weekend’s storm in the PNW has boosted a few of these totals. Fingers crossed there’s still more to come… These are the base depths at the snowiest resorts in North America […] Industry News SnowBrains | April 11, 2022 6 Comments
NOAA: Large Declines in Snowpack Across the U.S. West In many watersheds in the western United States, more water is stored in the mountain snowpack than in the region’s human-built reservoirs. As the climate has warmed, spring snowpack across the American West has declined by nearly 20 percent on average between 1955 and 2020—and by significantly more at some individual locations, according to an analysis by the U.S Environmental […] SnowBrains | April 8, 2022 0 Comments
After Driest 3-Months on Record, California Statewide Snowpack is Currently 38% of Normal On Friday, April 1st, 2022, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducted the fourth snow survey of the season at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada, California. Following three straight months of record dry conditions, the manual survey recorded just 2.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of one inch, which is four percent of average for […] SnowBrains | April 4, 2022 0 Comments
[PHOTOS] Images Show Stark Difference in Mount Shasta, CA, Snowpack Just 1-Year Apart What a difference a year makes. If you wanted proof of the dry year California has had, then these pictures speak a thousand words. Related: VIDEO: The History of UFO Sightings, Bigfoot, and Mystery Disappearances on Mount Shasta, CA The difference is plain to see. Mount Shasta Ski Park, which closed early due to lack of snow, received 175″ of snow […] SnowBrains | April 1, 2022 0 Comments
Record-Breaking Dry January and February Has Decimated Western Snowpack At the turn of the year, the snowpack across the west was healthy. We were sitting pretty and reveling in the awesome end to December we’d just had and stoked for the season ahead. In almost every state, the snowpack was above average for that time of year, and in some areas, California for example, it was double what it […] WeatherBrains | March 2, 2022 1 Comment
California to Enter 3rd Year of Drought as Snowpack Officially “Well Below Average” California’s Sierra snowpack has fallen “well below average” in the third official measurement of the season the Department of Water Resources reported yesterday. The snow survey was taken at Phillips Station west of Lake Tahoe. “With only one month left in California’s wet season and no major storms in the forecast, Californians should plan for a third year of drought conditions. […] SnowBrains | March 2, 2022 0 Comments
Satellite Images Show How Much Sierra Nevada Snowpack Has Shrunk in Last Month What a difference a month makes. The above satellite images clearly show the melt that has occurred in the Sierra Nevada; the snowpack has visibly decreased from January. It has been a dry start to the year that has melted some of the Sierra snowpack and started to dry things out. Related: These Are the 11 Deepest Snowpacks in North America […] SnowBrains | February 18, 2022 0 Comments
Western US Facing Worst Drought for 1,200-Years The US is experiencing one of the driest winters yet, as the megadrought continues. It’s been over a month since the West has seen a significant snowstorm. It’s been one of the driest years on record, with snow covering just 27% of the US. It’s the driest it’s been in 1,200 years. Related: NOAA: Even Small Additional Increases in Greenhouse […] Aunika Skogen | February 16, 2022 2 Comments
After Exceptionally Dry January for Western US, Most Mountains Snowpacks Still Sitting at Around Average for Time of Year—For Now January was painfully dry for the West. Most ski regions haven’t gotten proper snowfall in over a month, with the exception of trace amounts of snowfall here and there (This doesn’t apply to New Mexico and southern Colorado, which just got a big storm with several feet of snow this week). We’ve all been hurting. Despite the lack of snowfall […] SnowBrains | February 4, 2022 0 Comments
Satellite Images Show How Record-Breaking Snow in December Transformed Lake Tahoe Snowpack Record-breaking snowfall in December has undoubtedly made a massive difference to the snowpack and saved the California ski season. Over 214″ of snow fell on the Sierra Nevada in December, smashing the previous record of 179″ in 1970. The satellite images above show the difference from November 28th to January 4th. Related: [PHOTOS] Record-Breaking December at Palisades Tahoe, CA by the […] SnowBrains | January 5, 2022 0 Comments
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